1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the art of harvesting loose crop material and, more particularly, is concerned with a method and machine for forming rolls of crop material, such as large round bales of hay or the like.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Several decades ago, small roll balers for forming small rolls or round bales of crop material were reasonably popular for a short time as one method of harvesting crop material, such as hay or the like. However, small roll balers failed to successfully compete over the long run with the predominate method of harvesting hay, that being, the utilization of automatic type balers that form the hay into small wire- or twine-tied rectangular bales. Consequently, the small roll baler method of harvesting hay has since substantially faded from the hay harvesting scene.
In recent years, the practice of harvesting hay by forming it into large rolls through the use of large roll or round balers has become increasingly popular. One type of large round baler forms a swath or windrow of hay into a large cylindrical roll or round bale while the latter is supported on the ground. Another type of large round baler picks up the swath or windrow of hay and forms it into a large round bale off the ground. Both of these types of large round balers generally have mechanisms for applying twine or similar binding material about the bale once it has reached its desired maximum size. Then, in the case of both types of balers, the wrapped bale is discharged from the baler.
In the case of the on-the-ground type of large round baler known up to the present, the baler must be guided away from the windrowed crop material during the time the twine wrapping and bale discharging operations are being carried out since this type of baler is not capable of receiving additional hay until these operations are completed.
In the case of the off-the-ground type of large round baler known up to the present, the forward movement of the baler must be temporarily suspended or halted until the twine wrapping and bale discharging operations have been completed since this type of baler is also not capable of receiving additional hay during the performance of these operations.
Under certain field and crop conditions, the amount of time consumed in wrapping and discharging bales may approach twenty-five percent of that spent in actually rolling or forming the hay into individual bales when utilizing either of the on-the-ground or off-the-ground types of large round balers. It is readily apparent that such state of affairs creates a serious limitation on the potential, long term bale production capability of the large round balers. The same was generally true also in the case of the now obsolete small round balers.
One attempt to obviate the above-described limitation was proposed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,004,377 in connection with the small round baler. Such proposal related to the provision of auxiliary conveyor means on the baler to accumulate hay being picked up, by circulating it in an endless path on the baler away from the bale forming mechanism, while the bale wrapping and discharging phases of the baler operations are being carried out at the location of the bale forming mechanism. Then, once the latter operations are completed, it was envisioned that hay accumulated on the baler would be fed into the bale forming mechanism of the baler along with hay being picked up from the field to form another roll or round bale.
However, certain critical drawbacks are presented by the above-described proposal. First, the continuous circulation of the incoming hay by the auxiliary conveyor, while wrapping and discharging of the roll from the bale forming mechanism is being carried out, will likely result in substantial leaf losses in such portions of the hay due to over-handling thereof. Second, it is quite likely that more than enough hay to form a bale will soon become accumulated in the auxiliary conveyor of the baler and therefore periodically the machine will probably have to be operated while its forward movement is stopped in order to clean out the auxiliary conveyor. Consequently, the operator would have to give some attention to the auxiliary conveyor part of the baler in order to known when to do this. Third, the continuous circulation of the hay in loose form by the auxiliary conveyor makes it very difficult to maintain the degree of control over the circulating hay that is necessary in order to subsequently be able to carry out smooth feeding of the accumulated hay into the bale forming mechanism of the baler along with hay being picked up from the field.